Sugar Skulls

Sitting in her favorite chair, Calliope is working on

 a Halloween surprise for her sisters: cute little sugar skulls

 embroidered on panties!

Pretty Calliope is my Can Can Cat Blythe doll. The panties were a custom order in my etsy shop.

Tiny

Blythe a Day on Flickr, 1/8/16
Tiny


A seed is a promise that Spring will come again.

This is Calliope, my Can Can Cat Blythe doll.

Talented

Blythe a Day Aug. 17, 2015
Skill or Talent


Calliope has been very popular at parties since she started learning to do magic. Her best trick: pulling a live rabbit out of an empty hat!

Calliope is my Can Can Cat Blythe doll.

Jump In!

Blythe a Day July 7, 2015
Water

The water looks FANTASTIC! Calliope can't wait to join the other happy swimmers and dive right in!

Calliope is my Can Can Cat Blythe doll. The background is a poster. Her cute tote bag and beach mat were made for me by my friend Sara Ricer for a beach-themed swap we did last summer.

Freedom

Blythe a Day May 9, 2015
Freedom


Calliope gets a wonderfully patriotic feeling in her heart when she sees the American flag fluttering in the breeze, and she is proud to live "in the land of the free, and the home of the brave."

Calliope is my Can Can Cat Blythe doll.

Smart Girls ROCK!

Blythe a Day May 3, 2015
Girls Rock!


It was immediately clear to the others that Jubilee didn't understand what the "Smart Girls Rock" club was all about.

These girls are Grace (Petit Dejeuners), Calliope (Can Can Cat), and Jubilee (Simply Thumpty Thump).

Look Deep Into Nature

Blythe a Day April 9, 2015
Nature

Calliope is trying to understand everything better. She's a very smart girl.

Calliope is my Can Can Cat Blythe doll. The little goldfish in a bowl came to me in a swap package.

Fly a Kite

Blythe-a-Day March 29, 2015 Kite

Calliope is a fantastic babysitter. First, she made kites for the neighbor boys and herself; then, she took the boys to the park. Before flying the kites, however, she sat them down to tell them the most important rule: "Whatever happens, don't let go of the string!"

Calliope is my Can Can Cat Blythe doll. I love her blue hair! The little boys are called Sonny Angel dolls; these two were a gift from my daughter for my birthday--aren't they cute?? They come in a "blind box" so you don't know which one you will get (they all have different headgear.) I made the kites out of scrapbook paper.

Alien

Blythe-a-Day March 19, 2015 Alien

Calliope discovers that aliens are surprisingly soft and cuddly.

Calliope is  my fabulous Can Can Cat Blythe doll. The cute little aliens came to me in a craft swap.

Knitting: The Results

One hour later, after taking a break from her knitting, Faith returns to find that Calliope has a surprise for her.

Faith: "Whaaaat? My dress is finished!!! Thank you, Calliope, it looks amazing--how did you do it so fast?"

Calliope just smiled a secret smile, and didn't mention that she has magic knitting needles.

THE END

Knitting: First Lesson

Faith: "Oh no, I've been knitting this for HOURS and it looks terrible! All that time wasted. This is only good for the trash can."

Calliope: "Don't say that, Faith! It just needs a little help. Why don't you take a break and let me see if I can do something with it?"

Faith: "Okay, thanks Calliope, but only a magician could fix this."


Come back tomorrow for the conclusion of this drama.

Knitting: Off to a Good Start

Calliope: Thanks for helping me with my yarn.

Faith: My pleasure! It's the least I could do; after all, you DID agree to teach me to knit. When do we start?

Fabulous ATC's

Heidi: "Our sisters are going to be super jealous when they see these ATC's Sara Ricer made of US!"

Calliope: "I know! I feel like we're famous!"

My friend Sara Ricer is a woman of many talents...she's a teacher, a musician, and an artist (she also has a dolly blog called Kid Life Crisis). We both enjoy making ATC's (Artist Trading Cards--click HERE to read more about them), and I recently received a wonderful and unexpected gift of FIVE of her cards!

The two cards above look so much like my dolls Heidi and Calliope that I had to take a picture of them together. You can see all five ATC's in the picture below. I had seen several of these online already, but I discovered that they are much more detailed in person--the brush strokes and subtle shading don't show up completely in the photographs. They really are tiny works of art.

Thanks a million, Sara! I love these cards so much!

Doll of the Week(s)

There are so many different groups a Blythe collector can join online to share pictures and conversation with other collectors; there's one on Flickr called Blythe Calendar Girls that I'm tempted to participate in--you choose one doll each month to photograph, as much or as little as you want, and post the pictures in the group. But I have more than 12 dolls, and I want to play with them all this year, so I think I will do my own thing. I'm going to choose a doll to concentrate on (change her clothes, style her hair, and take photos) every week--or two. I will take as long as I want with each doll before going to the next one, and I will post photos here.

So here's my first girl: Calliope, my new Can Can Cat. I bought her second-hand on ebay in December. I LOVE her shiny, dark blue hair!

I made an ATC featuring Calliope for the monthly challenge at Plastic Paradise. Our theme for January is "Snow". I think I nailed it!

Just a couple of days after photographing Calliope in fake snowy surroundings, we had ACTUAL SNOW here in Williamsburg, Virginia! The good thing is there's just a couple of inches, and it will be gone by next week, but it is so much fun while it lasts!

(I'm going to make a confession. The snowball Calliope is holding below is........a cotton ball!)

And now, looking ahead to next month's heart-filled holiday, here she is again, offering you her heart.

Hey--Who's that New Girl?

After going to a lot of effort to plan and prepare a lovely Thanksgiving dinner for my family, I decided to reward myself with a new doll! Here she is, front and center: introducing Calliope, a Can Can Cat Blythe Neo.

Can Can Cat has been on my short list of dolls that I want for quite a while...I finally found her on ebay, used in perfect condition, at a good price, and already in the U.S., so I grabbed her!

Her hair is lovely--straight and long and "swingy", so I didn't need to wash it; but I did lightly sand-matt her face, and I made her a Christmas dress. Now she doesn't feel like a stranger any more. Welcome dear Calliope! I know we will have lots of fun together.